Sausage Rolls.

The sausage meat from these delicious sausage rolls came from a Winton based butcher (www.armstrongbutcher.com) and they are infinitely far superior than those from a supermarket in this recipe. I highly recommend… and their steaks are pretty good too 😉

NB. This recipe involves making puff pastry. It would work just as well with shop bought pastry if you don’t have the time.

Ingredients.

6-7 large sausages.

3 rashers of dry cure streaky bacon

1 small onion

8oz strong white bread flour

4oz butter

4oz lard

pinch of salt

some iced/cold water

1 egg

Method.

To make the pastry: Mix the salt into the flour and cut the butter and lard into chunks (approx. 1cm cubes) and add them to the mix. Toss the butter and lard pieces in the flour until they are coated.

Add the water bit by bit and using a knife or a spatula, mix the water into the flour/butter mix until the dough just comes together. The aim is to create a ‘dough’ with the flour, but to still have lots of large lumps of butter and lard.

As soon as the dough has come together, tip out onto a floured work surface and shape into a large ‘brick’ shape. With your rolling pin, roll out the dough into a long strip of pastry. Take one of the ends and fold it into the middle and repeat with the other end – folding the dough into thirds. Press together with your hands to seal the ends. Cover with a sheet of cling and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Repeat the above by rolling out into a long strip, folding into 3 and sealing in. Cover and rest for 5 minutes.

Repeat this 3 more times.

Wrap the dough completely with cling and pop in the fridge for at least an hour but overnight is also fine.

To prepare the meat: In a food processor, add the onion and the bacon and whizz until in fine pieces/mush. Take the sausages out of their skins and add the bacon/onion mush to the sausage meat, squishing with your hands until it is all combined. You can add extra herbs (like sage or thyme) but if you have quality sausages you may not need any. I also wouldn’t add any extra seasoning as the bacon will add salt to the taste.

To make the sausage rolls: Preheat the oven to gas 6/200.

Roll out the pastry until it is 0.5cm thick and rectangular in shape. (do NOT scrunch or fold the pastry).

Shape the sausage meat in your hands into a ‘sausage’ shape and place in lines down the pastry, allowing about an inch either side of each strip of meat. Using a knife or pizza cutter, slice the pastry into sections. Beat the egg in a bowl. Fold the pastry over the sausage meat, using some beaten egg to ‘glue’ the pastry together (you will end up with a long strip with one rounded edge and an edge where the pastry is stuck together).

Cut the sausage rolls from the long strip and cut little marks in the pastry on the top. Brush the beaten egg on the top of the sausage rolls. Place on a greased/lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden on top.

This made about 8 chunky sausage rolls but would make more smaller rolls, depending on how large/small you shape the sausage meat.